Monthly Archives: July 2013

New in the Atlantic: Papa, Don’t Text: The Perils of Distracted Parenting by linguist and author Deborah Fallows. She urges parents to put down the phone and interact with their children, with research showing that children with parents who interact with them verbally have higher language proficiency:

In essence, the children made greater linguistic strides when adults talked with them than when they were simply in the presence of language or even when adults talked to them.

Also cited: a study showing children learned to hear the sounds of Mandarin from a live speaker, but not from a DVD.

Unfortunately, if you go and look at many of the Gifted forums..you will find that Montessori schools are in fact failing gifted children.

I was curious, so I did some quick Googling. It’s far from an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but here’s what I found:

A long-running discussion on the topic at DavidsonGifted.org, with a range of opinions represented. It seems like there were more saying Montessori didn’t work for their child than not, but with some important qualifications.

This from CircleOfMoms.com and this from Mothering.com, which are both fairly positive.

The main points seem to be these:

First, with any evaluation of Montessori, it’s important to remember that anyone can use the name, and “Montessori” in the school’s name is no guarantee of the practices within. Visit, observe, ask about training, see if it’s the right fit for your family.

Some parents experienced rigidity and a blind adherence to particular ‘steps’ a child must go through in a curriculum area. Montessori teachers will understand what this is about, but good Montessori teachers who really understand what it means to ‘follow the child’ will know when to move more quickly. Repetition isn’t, or shouldn’t be, a requirement of children. It’s a behavior they exhibit when the work is meeting their developmental needs. If you’re not seeing repetition, there’s a reason, and it’s the teacher’s work to find activities which do inspire the concentration, engagement, and repetition we know is possible.

What has your experience been? Please, share your stories in the comments.